The Senior Employee Relations Partner leads and influences the delivery of a fair, consistent, and legally compliant ER framework across the organisation. The role leads complex ER activity, provides authoritative guidance and constructive challenge to managers and senior stakeholders, and builds organisational capability to prevent issues and improve employee experience. It ensures people practices reflect employment law, policy, and best-practice standards. Reporting into the Corporate HR Director, this role is a trusted advisor on sensitive matters, influencing decisions and outcomes at all levels, and shaping a positive, inclusive and high-performance culture.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Complex Case Management · Lead end-to-end management of complex, sensitive, and high-risk ER cases (disciplinary, grievance, performance, capability, absence, etc), setting the standard for quality, consistency and pace. · Lead objective, thorough investigations, ensuring balanced findings, defensible decision-making and high-quality documentation. · Apply expert judgement and influence senior leaders where situations involve ambiguity, senior employees, or reputational/legal risk.
Manager Capability Building · Coach and upskill managers to handle ER matters confidently, early, and consistently, raising capability and accountability across the organisation. · Partner with HRBPs to design and deliver targeted training on absence management, performance management, investigations, and conflict resolution, influencing consistent practice. · Create and embed toolkits, templates, and guidance that standardise decision-making and support leaders to apply policies confidently and fairly.
ER Framework, Policy & Governance · Own, maintain and enhance ER policies and guidance, ensuring compliance with UK employment law and internal standards, and driving consistent adoption. · Work with HR Systems to ensure ER workflows, data accuracy, governance and case tracking are robust, auditable and insight-driven. · Support change management, organisational restructures, and consultation processes.
Stakeholder Advisory & Relationships · Partner with HRBPs, Legal, L&D, and senior leaders to shape effective, fair approaches to complex people matters. · Provide objective challenge, options and risk assessment to influence decisions and ensure fair, consistent outcomes. · Engage with staff forums, or employee representatives, where applicable.
Data, Insights & Reporting · Analyse ER trends, root causes, and hotspots to identify systemic issues and influence proactive interventions. · Produce regular, decision-ready reporting on ER activity, including legal exposure, employee experience themes, and policy effectiveness, with clear recommendations. · Recommend preventative actions (training, policy updates, manager interventions, cultural improvement).
Compliance & Legal Risk Mitigation · Set and assure standards so all ER activity aligns with legislation, case law, ACAS codes, and internal governance. · Support ACAS conciliation, settlement discussions, and Employment Tribunal preparation where required. · Mitigate operational, legal, and reputational risk through sound judgement and quality assurance.
REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE Essential · Strong ER background with substantial experience leading complex cases (typically 6+ years). · Deep knowledge of UK employment law, ACAS codes, and ER best practice. · Proven ability to manage high-risk or sensitive cases with diplomacy and professionalism. · Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders and drive change without formal authority. · Strong coaching and advisory skills. · Demonstrated experience improving ER processes, policy governance, and manager capability.
Desirable · CIPD Level 5 or Level 7 qualification (or equivalent experience). · Exposure to multi-site or fast-paced environments. · Experience working with HRIS systems and ER case management tools. · Experience working in organisations undergoing significant change, transformation, or restructuring.
Behaviours & Competencies · Sound judgement and ability to balance legal, operational, and cultural considerations. · High resilience, emotional intelligence, and professional integrity. · Strong analytical skills with ability to turn ER trends into practical action. · Collaborative working approach across HRBP, L&D, Talent Acquisition and Systems functions. · Commitment to fairness, inclusion, and maintaining a positive employee experience.
Equal Opportunities: CACI is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. Embracing the diversity of our people, we are on a journey to build a truly inclusive work environment where no one is treated less favourably due to ethnic origin, age, sex, gender identity, veteran status, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital status, and disability or health condition, actively working to prevent discrimination. As a Disability Confident employer, we will; • Provide reasonable adjustments in the recruitment process where requested (contact a member of the recruitment team on 020 7602 6000 to discuss individual requirements further). • Offer people with health conditions and disabilities, meeting the minimum criteria for a role, an interview. Our people are unique and we encourage, and support them, to be confident in contributing to our inclusion journey.
